Article of repose for supporting the body of a person



Dec. 13, 1955 A. LORENZ 2,726,709

ARTICLE OF REPOSE FOR SUPPORTING THE BODY OF A PERSON Filed Jan. 21, 1953 FINTON} LORENZ ATTORNEY United States Patent ARTICLE OF REPOSE FOR SUPPORTING THE BODY OF A PERSON Anton Lorenz, Bulfalo, N. Y.

Application January 21, 1953, Serial No. 332,375

4 Claims. (Cl. 155-106) This invention relates to articles of furniture, and more particularly to a reclining article of furniture wherein a unit comprising a seat and a back-rest is swingably mounted on a support and a leg-rest pivoted to the seat is controlled by a controlling mechanism in dependence on movements of said unit.

An object of the invention is to provide a controlling mechanism for a swingable leg-rest in above described type of articles of furniture, by means of which the legrest may be brought into a substantially horizontal position while the seat-back-rest unit is swung through a comparatively small angle about its pivot on the support.

A further object of the invention is to improve on the construction of reclining articles of furniture as now customarily made.

Other objects and structural details of the invention will be apparent from the following description when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings forming part of this specification, wherein:

Fig. 1 is a side elevational view of a reclining armchair according to the invention, a portion of a side frame being broken away, and

Fig. 2 is a side elevational view of a different embodiment of a reclining armchair according to the invention, a portion of a side frame being broken away.

Referring now to Fig. l, generally indicates a support having side frames 12 and 14 connected with each other by cross bars 16. The arm-rests are included in the side frames.

18 generally indicates a unit swingably mounted on the support 10 at 20. Said unit 18 comprises a seat 22 and a back-rest 24 integral with each other.

A leg-rest 26 is swingably mounted on the front portion of the seat 22 at 28. The upper end of a controlling link 30 is pivoted to a lug of the leg-rest 26 at 32. The lower end of said controlling link 30 is pivoted at 34 to the lower end of a controlling arm 36. The upper end of said controlling arm 36 is pivoted at 38 to a connecting link 40 intermediate the ends theerof. The upper end portion of said connecting link 40 is pivoted to the seat 22 at 42. The lower end portion of said connecting link 40 is pivoted at 44 to a controlling element 46 swingably mounted with its upper end portion on the support 10 at 48. The lower end portion of said controlling element 46 is pivoted to the lower end of a controlling bar 50 at 52. The upper end of said controlling bar 50 is pivoted to the controlling arm 36 at the point 54 said point being located between the pivots 34 and 38 of said controlling arm 36.

The sitting position of the movable members of the chair is limited by a stop 56 arranged on the support for abutting cooperation with a lug 58 of the seat-back-rest unit 18. When said unit 18 is swung to a reclined position, for example the extreme reclined position 18 shown in dash and dot lines, the leg-rest 26 is brought into the position 26' by the above described controlling mechanism 30, 36, 40, 46, 50. The extreme reclined position 18' of the unit is limited by the upper edge of the rear "Ice wall 60 of the support 10 which comes into abutting engagement with said unit.

The controlling mechanism 36, 40, 46, 50 according to the invention permits a comparatively fast initial upward movement of the leg-rest 26, so that the latter reaches a substantially horizontal position while the seatback-rest unit 18 is swung through a comparatively small angle. In other words the elevated substantially horizontal position 26 of the leg-rest is obtained while the back-rest is only slightly reclined.

According to the embodiment shown in Fig. 2 again the unit 118 comprising the seat 122 and the back-rest 124 is swingably mounted on the support 110 at 120. The leg-rest 126 is swingably mounted on the seat 122 at 128 and controlled by a controlling mechanism comprising the controlling link 130, the controlling arm 136, the connecting link 140, the controlling element 146 and the controlling bar 150. The arrangement of the members of said controlling mechanism substantially corresponds to the arrangement of the members of the controlling mechanism shown in Fig. l with the exception that according to Fig. 2 the lower end of the controlling element 146 is pivoted to the support at 148 and the upper end of said controlling element 146 is pivoted to the controlling bar 150 at 152.

A movement of the unit 118 from the sitting position shown in full lines in Fig. 2 into the extreme reclined position 118 shown in dash and dot lines causes a lifting of the leg-rest 126 into the position 126 through the medium of the controlling mechanism 130, 136, 140, 146, 150. The sitting position is limited by the stop 156 and v the extreme reclined position is limited by the upper edge of the rear wall 160 of the support 110.

I have described preferred embodiments of my invention but it is understood that this disclosure is for the purpose of illustration and that various omissions or changes in shape, proportion and arrangement of parts as well as the substitution of equivalent elements for those herein shown and described may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. An article of repose for supporting the body of a person, comprising in combination: a support, a unit including a seat and a back-rest rigid with each other, said unit being rockably mounted on said support, .a controlling element swingably mounted on said support, a connecting link, one end portion of said connecting link being pivoted to said seat, the other end portion of said connecting link being pivoted to said controlling element, a controlling arm pivoted at one of its end portions to said connecting link, a controlling bar, one end portion of said controlling bar being pivoted to said controlling arm, the other end portion of said controlling bar being pivoted to said controlling element, a leg-rest swingably mounted on the front end portion of said seat, and controlling means interposed between said controlling arm and said leg-rest for efiecting movements of the latter in coordination with said controlling arm.

2. In an article of response as claimed in claim 1, the swingable connection of said controlling element with the support being at the upper portion of said controlling element, and the pivotal connection between said controlling bar and said controlling element being at the lower end portion of the latter.

3. In an article of repose as claimed in claim 1, the swingable connection of said controlling element with the support being at the lower portion of said controlling element, and the pivotal connection between said controlling bar and said controlling element being at the upper end portion of the latter.

4. An article of repose for supporting the body of a person, comprising in combination: "'asnpp'ort,"a unit including a seat and a back-rest rigid with each other, said unit being swingablymoi nted on said support, a 0on trolling element swingably mounted onQsaid support, a connecting link, one end portion of 'said connecting link being pivotedfto said seat, the other end portion'of said connecting link being pivoted to said controlling ele-' ment, a leg-rest swingably mounted on the front end portion of said seat,'a controlling link pivoted at one of its ends to said leg-rest, a controlling arm being pivoted to the other end portion of said controlling link, the other end of said controlling arm'being pivoted to said connecting link, and a controlling bar, one, end of said controlling bar being pivoted to said controlling arm, the. other end of said controlling bar being pivoted to said controlling element.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES'PATENTS Richardson Aug. 4, 1953 

